Page 12

“Sounds like poor training,” I interrupt. My eyes widening when that odd red color blooms in his eyes, flooding and warring with the deep brown.

I don’t get a second to rehash my own words before I’m hauled off the ground and slung over the shoulder of Fafnir, a move he seems to enjoy as he plants a rough, dirty palm over the back of my thigh, squeezing a little harder than he needs to.

It's everything I have not to squirm as I’m roughly deposited on the back of Valoryx.

Instinctually, I lean up, gripping onto his mane as he purrs his approval.

“Poor training.” Fafnir spits, and it's clear I’ve struck a nerve.

I almost feel bad, but the trepidation I’m feeling at his erratic behavior takes a backseat to the mouthwatering spectacle of pure male aggression.

He jerks his thick fingers into his hair, his muscles bunching as he stalks toward an open spot in the field away from us.

When he turns, his eyes find mine. My core tightens unbidden, making me dig my teeth into my lip.

“Hold him roughly,” he orders, and my heart jolts in my chest, digging my fingers in harder, deeper, so much so I worry they’ll need to be cut out.

I’m panting, my breath rougher than it was moments ago as he darts further out, moving every bit as fast as the beast I’m on. His strong equestrian legs, all power and corded muscle. When he stops, his back is to me, to all of us, and it's only then that I notice they're watching.

All the Sihlih gather around me in a V formation as he barks commands.

When he lifts his arm, the entire field goes still, me included.

He turns, looking over his shoulder, his eyes meeting mine.

The slightest smirk on his bowed lips does ungodly things to my insides before he gives the line of predators his back again.

The command that comes next is more vocalization than words. I barely hear the end of it as a scream rips from my throat. The line of Sihlih rushes forward, snarling and foaming with their attack.

And it is an attack.

One that he aimed toward himself.

“Stop!” I scream, jerking back on Valoryx’s mane as if it’ll do anything to stop him, to stop any of them. We’re on him in seconds that seem to stretch a lifetime as I squeeze my eyes shut tightly, just as another short, barked command rises above the snarling.

I lurch forward at the sudden stop so violently that I crash into Valoryx’s wide neck. My breath leaving me in choked pants.

“Open your eyes, little female.”

I do, the sound of his gravelly voice swiping over my frayed nerves like warm water over chilled skin. My mouth gapes. The silly, willful Valoryx’s teeth are latched onto his master’s shoulder.

A strange, violent snapping occurs in my chest. “Fafnir!” I try to move to scramble off, but then I look closer.

His teeth pierce but… only just like the tip of a needle, and he’s panting, holding his pose.

My head snaps around in horror to find they all are.

The beasts stopped a blink away from delivering a fatal blow.

All in perfect unison. The gravity of it has me slipping my shaky hands from his mane.

“Okay, you made your point.” I spit out, feigning anger because it’s the only thing that makes sense, despite not feeling a lick of it.

I’m panicked, shaky, and… who the fuck knows?

Fafnir barks another command. The beasts stop their eerie, paused attack, all returning to their casual lounging like their master hadn’t just commanded them to kill him.

Like they hadn’t been prepared to do so without hesitation.

When I look up from the scaled back of Valoryx, it's not of my own volition. My pulse whooshes in my ears as the sharp prick of something blooms under my chin. My attention snaps up, but I don’t dare move a muscle.

Fafnir’s long pointed horn is poised under my chin, his swirling eyes tilting up under dark gray lashes to meet mine.

An elongated furry ear flicks. His hair mussed and hanging in his face with such devout hunger, I have to fight the urge to squirm.

“We are less than forty-eight Zentics in, and already you disrupt the very core of me, Valkyra.”

My nipples grow hard and chafing under the thick hide tunic.

“I am not a gentle male, Lenora. I do not train gentle house pets. The beast you sit upon has killed and maimed nearly as many as his master. While I admire his obvious affections for you, you would do well to remember what we are.”

We.

What we are.

“Neither of you will hurt me.” I breathe out, shaken by the surety in my voice.

My hand acting of its own accord as I palm his antler.

Something about the action feels… dirty, sacred, like I shouldn’t be gripping him here, but I don’t let go.

Fafnir’s eyes widen as I direct it away from my chin.

Moving my head back as I gently tug him closer to me, rubbing my thumb over the ivory rings of his tanned horns.

He’s a hairsbreadth away from me, and my entire body lights, watching as his eyes swirl and battle.

I don’t breathe as he lifts me from the beast, letting my flushed skin make a slow path down his body. I hang onto his horn until I can't any longer, until my fingers slip free, and I watch the terrifying, berserker alien… shudder .

“Come Lenora, that’s enough for today.”

I try to agree, but nothing comes, my eyes lingering on the huge bulge tenting behind his loincloth as he turns and stalks back toward the Sihlih grounds where most of the mounts have slinked back. Save for Valoryx, who seems content to walk at a slothful pace beside me.

Fafnir said he fought for sixteen years. My breath heaves out of me in a failed attempt to calm and strengthen my shaky legs.

They only require three.